How to Improve Your Spelling

Hello! This week on Ask a Teacher, we answer a question from Guillermo in Argentina about how to spell words in English.

Question

Dear Teacher,

When I hear some new words in English, I can find their meaning, but for me, the spelling is always difficult. Can you please give me [some] advice?

Thank you,

Guillermo

Answer

I'm happy to answer this question, Guillermo.

English spelling can be difficult for several reasons. For many letters in the English alphabet, a letter can represent several sounds.

Let's listen to the sound the letter “A” makes in each of the following six words:

cat

day

father

ball

many

attack

Can you hear the difference between the two letters “A” of the last word? Let's listen again.

attack

The first syllable made the quick schwa sound “/ə/”.

Because an English letter can make different sounds, words that have similar spellings can sound different from each other, as in these examples:

lemon and demon

daughter and laughter

war and far

In addition, words that have different spellings can sound the same. These are called homophones, as in these examples:

pause and paws

rode and road

deer and dear

But that's not all. In many words, some letters are silent—they are not pronounced at all, like the letter “b” at the end of the word “climb”.

You can see from all of the above examples that you cannot only use the sounds of words to know how to spell them. So, what should you do?

Spelling rules

Fortunately, English does have some general rules for spelling.

For example, a famous rule that children learn in school is “I before e except after c.” This gives us the spelling of words such as:

piece

niece

receive

But be careful! There are still many words in English that break the spelling rules. The word “science,” for example, breaks the “I before e” rule. For words such as these, you simply have to memorize how to spell them. And how can you do that?

Memorizing words

The best way to help your memory is to read as much as possible and practice writing. Writing can test how well you know how to spell. Most computer programs also include a spell-checker, where misspelled words are underlined in a color. This helps you see any spelling mistakes you have made and also shows you the correct spelling.

Recognizing patterns

In addition to rules, there are spelling patterns. You can group words into the pattern they follow. For example, some words that have the spelling -ough include:

rough, tough, cough, though, and bought.

Notice, however, that with these examples, the letters -ough made three different vowel sounds:

rough, cough, though

This again shows the need to memorize spellings because the sound of the word will not always tell you how to spell it.

Having fun

Lastly, becoming good at spelling can be enjoyable. Think of it like a game or other activity you enjoy. Over time, you will feel good as you learn to spell more and more words. There are many books, websites, and apps designed for spelling practice. Try to use these and practice your spelling.

For our readers and listeners, what are your questions about American English? We'd like to hear from you. Send us an email at Hxen.net. And please include where you are from in your email, too.

And that's Ask a Teacher.

I'm Andrew Smith.

Andrew Smith wrote this lesson for VOA Learning English.

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pattern –n. a regular or repeated happening